Tessa and Scott just had a fab practice. Practiced every move 2-3 times, the YP and the step sequence about 4 times in total, they were unstoppable. They changed the lift: the entrance is from last year's SD, the rest - the second lift from Funny Face. Twizzles impeccable. They looked like they owned the ice, although the "young lions" Elena and Nikita were quite aggressively marking their territory. Not necessarily in a bad way, but they were very "in your face". Tessa and Scott were very quiet and calm, every move was ample, every edge perfect. Can you tell I'm in awe? (I have to admit, though, that I cannot tell the polka steps one from the other, so, although they looked great, I've no idea if those damn key-points were met).
And yes, Pani is right, there's the extra pressure of every official from the Russian fed. All smiles and friendliness, but who knows what realy happens behind the scenes? All the judges were here as well, I don't think I've ever seen so many at a practice.
Fingers crossed for tonight, may they skate like they just did.

Ioana talked about ample movements, that's what I love about the new SD. it marks a difference from other SD's that are very quick and perhaps frantic. also, i wish too that officials didn't show all this warmness, it doesnt sound good :-/ have a great time Ioana and Pani!

I heard that in the golden days the ice dancers used to purposefully whizz past each other at the highest speed and then stop just short of hitting the others or wait until the last minute to move. The purpose was to intimidate and show you were the most confident, I guess. I think it used to happen with A&P and FP&M, maybe G&P and K&O also.

70.65 for Tessa and Scott
I'm still not sold on their SD, but I'm super excited about their FD!
I think I just don't like the concept of their SD. I think that they skate it amazingly, but it's not for me.
Although their YP was great! On the second pattern, they almost reached the barriers on the other side of the rink because their lobe was so big!

Definitely the class of the field.............so much better than SC. I love all the little details, hand movement, facial expression, not to mention the actual skating. Good for them...........now the levels, and they will be working on them to be sure.

SC:
YP1 was a level 3 with GOE of 1
YP2 was a level 2 with GOE of .79
COR:
YP1 was a level 2 with GOE of .93
YP2 was a level 3 with GOE of .79
So it seems this is something that still needs working. However, since SC their RoLi went from a level 1 to a level 4; their STw went from a 3 to a 4 and their NtMiSt went from 2 to 3 so that's three areas that they have levelled up. Still room for improvement in their GOE on each of the elements.
PCS -- a slight increase from 37.37 to 37.5 and there seemed to be a wider spread between the upper and lower GOE given by the judges at COR compared to SC although Tessa & Scott did get a couple 10s today.

Personally, I'm not too worried now that I they have finished the SD (kinda hold my breath when they skate) and see there is still room for improvement in levels and GOE. Personally, I lurves this SD.

I just watched their SD! I like it a lot more than I did at SC and I'm so glad they scored better too. I think the lift they changed to works and goes with the program. This is just me, but I wish they had chosen different music for the polka part, the one they have now seems to jarring to me. But anyway good performance! I'm so hyped for the FD tomorrow.

Also Tessa's face in the beginning of the slo-mo in the SD today...whoa!!

First of all, to answer Macassar's question about Elena and Nikita: yes, they kept getting in their way. They moved very aggressively across the ice - which would not be a problem if you respected other people's space. They were quite impressive, fast, they skate well. They clearly wanted to make an impression, which is understandable. But at some point I felt that every time Tessa and Scott found a corner to practice a move, Elena and Nikita were instantly all over them. As I said, T&S were calm, found another spot, repeated the move, but to me it felt irritating.

Now, about the SD performance (besides my ever-present nerves) They were just a bit tentative, careful, although the movements and glide across the ice were amazing. The audience loved them, clapped on the polka beats, and when they were introduced there was a roar in the arena. Russia clearly loves them. I can only imagine how they'll react to Carmen tomorrow!

The tentativeness could be explained by what Tessa said afterwards, during the press-conference: they were very nervous, especially her. They love the program, they always skate it well in practice and they were upset by the problems they had at Skate Canada. They used this week to do some damage-control on the tech side and recuperate those lost levels. She also said something funny about the step sequence - that they has tried to do something different at the beginning of it, but in order to get level 4 they had to change it and, funnily enough, make it easier! She said that they will try to find a balance, during the next 3 weeks until GPF, between their creative ideas and the technical restrictions. She mentioned changing the lift and using the one from last year - I had a feeling they were only using it temporarily. They might come up with something else.

I meant to record the whole press conference with my camera, and I tried to, but the microphones didn't really work. You could barely hear what they were saying. There was another girl who recorded it, and she was sitting front-row, so maybe she will post something on youtube.

Other things that were said: Tessa admitted to being nervous (after someone asked her how come she and Scott looked so calm during the warm-up!) and said she relied on Scott to calm her down and tried to take the program step by step. There was one guy who joked that he had seen Scott earlier today and he seemed "ready to kill someone". Tessa was highly amused, and Scott said that he enters "his zone" before competitions and he's so concentrated that sometimes he can't control his own facial expressions.

All the three teams were asked to talk about how they chose their music. Scott said they loved the waltz and tried to incorporate a polka into it (although reluctantly, heh), but it all worked out because they found a beautiful polka as well.

That's about it. Can't wait for the FD practice tomorrow, and hope to be able to write a few words for you.

Thanks Ioana so much for your reports! I'll have to go back and rewatch the SC and RC versions of the step sequence to see the differences... that's amusing to me that they are doing something easier to get the better points. I guess Tracy Wilson was right when she said that VM didn't have to put in as much difficulty as they did... only I'm not sure she meant it in quite that way!